Peripheral Vision: Logitech G430 Surround Headset

We all know how hard finding a high-quality, comfortable headset can be, but I’d strongly recommend that all gamers have a good pair nonetheless. After all, we can't always have a mega sound system blasting gunshots and car noises throughout the night. Additionally, having access to a microphone for voice chat helps make you a better team player.

To make things easier on all you gaming guys and girls, I’m going to be taking a look at some of the latest gaming headsets to help you pick the right one. Today we’re checking out Logitech’s G430 Gaming headset, which features a lightweight design, 7.1 surround sound, and a folding noise-cancelling microphone.

The Logitech G430 looks quite nice, mostly because its design is neither too complex or too simple. You’ve got black on the outside, and on every location of padding there is a lovely shade of blue. Additionally the braided cable is also blue, with the in-line controls being a lovely black. The final aesthetic test is known as the “How Geeky do I look while wearing these?” test, where I ask my wife what she thinks. The G430 scored a “Slightly geeky” because of the blue lining.

At first, the G430 felt really tight and the padding was quite stiff and rough, so when I took them off, they would sometimes rub and hurt my ears. To make things worse, they were quite tight and felt like they'd almost crush my skull.

But after a few days of wearing them, they really grew on me. Fresh, out-of-the-box Logitech G430 headsets are quite stiff, and the foamy padding needs a little softening up. After that, they really feel good and the whole head-crushing tightness goes away.

The microphone is easy to position and use. When upright, you cannot see or feel that it’s there, and while in use you can position it to any part of your face. However, the microphone can only be positioned on the left-hand side; it can't be reversed like several other headsets on the market right now.

The G430 can be used via standard 3.5mm audio/microphone jacks or with 3.5 to USB converter/mini-soundcard. Essentially, you cannot fully utilize (and enjoy) the 7.1 surround sound while using the audio jacks and must use the supplied USB convertor. This is because the included software cannot interface with audio jacks. But in order to experience the headphones in their true glory, you simply need to download and install the included software. One great thing to note is if you’ve already got a Logitech mouse or keyboard, you will most likely already have the software installed and you can simply plug & play.

The software also allows you to fiddle with the EQ to get that perfect balance. I’m going to straight up say that this headset, when set up correctly (which is quite easy to do), does exactly what you want it to. I could clearly hear all the tiny little sounds while playing CS:S, CS:GO, CoD and, of course, the explosive Battlefield 3. When it comes to gaming, I would place these headphones way above the Steelseries Siberia.

So at the end of the day, the G430 is a pair of 100-dollar headphones that provides you with a very comfy gaming session complete with 7.1 surround sound. It puts you at an advantage when you're playing FPS games against others who don’t have a good pair of headphones/speakers.

I give the G430 a 9.5, because it's such a great headset all around. Oh, and I’d like to thank out resident model Jennie for posing with the headset (pictured below).

Amazing

Thomas Adams
Freelance Games Journalist who loves to write and record every aspect of video games!